Richard Desborough Burnell (26 July 1917 – 29 January 1995) was an English rower who won a gold medal at the 1948 Olympics alongside Bert Bushnell in the double sculls.

"[3] Bushnell struck up a friendship with American rower John B. Kelly Jr. and Australian Mervyn Wood.

[4] On the Henley Royal Regatta course, they lost to France in the first round, but then won both the repêchage followed by the semi-final.

On 9 August 1948, in front of a home crowd, Bushnell and Burnell competed in the Olympic final against the double scull teams of Uruguay and Denmark.

[3] Bushnell nearly missed the final, held at the Leander Club in Henley-on-Thames, as stewards would not allow him to enter; he later explained "You see I wasn't a member then – not posh enough".

In 1940 Burnell married Rosalind, a daughter of English Olympic gold medal-winning rower Stanley Garton.